Elizabeth M. Chandler
| birth_place = Centre, Delaware, U.S. | death_date = November | death_place = Michigan, U.S. | occupation = Writer | parents = }} ' Elizabeth Margaret Chandler' (December 24, 1807 - November 2, 1834) was an American poet and essayist, the earliest female writer in the United States to make the abolition of slavery her principal theme. Life Youth and education Chandler was born in Centre, Delaware, on Christmas Eve, 1807 to Thomas Chandler (1773-1817) and Margaret Evans (1778-1808). She had 2 older brothers, William Guest Chandler (1804-1873) and Thomas Chandler (born 1806). They were members of the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers), and they lived the strict, orderly and disciplined life of a Quaker family. By the time she was 9 years old she had lost both her parents, she and her brothers were living with their grandmother, Elizabeth Guest Evans (1744-1827), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chandler attended a Quaker school and there embraced the Quaker view of slavery. She started writing poems at a very early age. She left school when she was about 12 or 13 (sources differ), but continued to read and write with a passion. Chandler's romantic verses on nature were 1st published when she was just 16. Career In 1825, when she Chandler was 18, her emotional poem, "The Slave-Ship", was published and drew national attention. She was invited by Benjamin Lundy, a well known abolitionist and publisher, to write for his periodical, The Genius of Universal Emancipation. She wrote for and edited the "Ladies' Repository" section of his newspaper. She used her appeal to women to demand better treatment for Native Americans and the immediate emancipation of slaves. She became one of the most powerful women writers of her time. She often used the tragic example of women slaves being torn away from their children and their husbands to gain sympathy from her female readers. When told that women did not have the power to abolish slavery, Chandler responded that, as mothers, women are in the unique position: :to give the first bent to the minds of those, who at some future day are to be their country's counselors. It is hard to say exactly how influential her writings were to the public at large. However, many of her articles were copied and circulated in the most popular newspapers of the time. She also introduced one of the most famous abolitionist images, the kneeling female slave with the slogan "Am I not a Woman and a Sister". Taken from the image depicting a male slave for the seal of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade designed by Wedgwood. Two years later, William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator, and a leader in the abolitionist movement, adopted this symbol and slogan to head the ladies department of the paper, one of the most prominent abolitionist papers of the time. Move to Michigan In 1830 Chandler moved, with her aunt and brother, to the territory of Michigan. Her brother Thomas Chandler purchased land near Tecumseh, Michigan in Lenawee County, about 60 miles south-west of Detroit, in order to start a farm. They called the place Hazlebank. "From this, her quiet and secluded retreat, emanated some of the choicest productions of her pen." -- Benjamin Lundy Chandler participated in national discussions and debates through her articles and poems about Abolitionism. She continued to edit Benjamin Lundy's Abolitionist Journal. While living in Philadelphia, Chandler had been a member of a Female Anti-Slavery Society, although she was not very active. After she moved to Michigan, she established the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1832 with her friend and neighbor Laura Smith Haviland. She wrote: :Terrible in crime and magnitude as the slavery of our country is, I do not despair — apathy must — will awaken, and opposition die — the cause of justice must triumph, or our country must be ruined." The Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society organization established a main link in the Underground Railroad to Canada. Chandler died from "remittant fever" shortly before her 27th birthday. She was buried near the family farm at Hazlebank. Her articles, poems, and letters were gathered and published as two books, by Benjamin Lundy, and the proceeds from the sale of those books went to the cause of abolition. Publications Poetry *''The Poetical Works. Philadelphia: Lemuel Howell, 1836 (bound with ''Essays) **(edited by Benjamin Lundy). Philadelphia: T.E. Chapman, 1845; Providence, RI: Brown University Women Writers Project, 2002. Non-fiction *''Essays, Philanthropic and Moral: Principally relating to the abolition of slavery in America. Philadelphia: Lemuel Howell, 1836 (bound with ''Poetical Works). Letters *''Remember the Distance That Divides Us: The family letters of Philadelphia Quaker abolitionist and Michigan pioneer Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, 1830–1842'' (edited by Marcia J. Heringa Mason). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-87013-713-6 Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 9, 2016. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *Elizbeth Margaret Chandler (1807-1834) info & 5 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830 ;About *Elizabeth M. Chandler (1807-1834) at Portraits of American Women Writers *Elizabeth Chandler at Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. *Elizabeth Margaret Chandler at the History of American Women Category:1807 births Category:1834 deaths Category:American abolitionists Category:American pioneers Category:American Quakers Category:American women poets Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Writers from Wilmington, Delaware Category:Writers from Michigan Category:Poets from Delaware Category:19th-century American poets Category:Poets from Michigan Category:19th-century women writers Category:19th-century poets Category:American poets Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets